While we know that regulations will remain the same for 2025 as they were for 2024 the insanity of meetings and kicking the can down the road continue. I like to think I have a gently grasp on this madness but I easily get twisted around from time to time.
This weeks nuttiness? What's the difference between a benchmark and stock assessment? Well I got a little help from AI when I Googled the question. So here it goes. Well first let's look at the upcoming assessments .
Every two years, I think, there is a stock assessment (SA) to determine what is the current status of the striped bass population. And then there's a benchmark assessment (BA) which is an assessment to determine where certain triggers and thresholds are set to determine if the striped bass are "good" or in need of protection in the way of changing regulations for commercial and recreational anglers.
It is during the benchmark assessment that they determine things like overfished and overfishing. Above you see the results 2018 BA. You can see that since 2012 we have below the threshold for female spawning striped bass, or SSB.
The last stock assessment was completed last year, 2024, with the next one due in the fall of 2026. That's one of the reason the a-holes at the ASMFC punted for taking no action in 2025, "Let's just wait for the 2026 SA". But during these winter meetings held this week there was discussion on the timing of the 2026 SA and the 2027 BA, which would overlap and reported just months apart.
In order to determine things NOAA's Marine Recreational Reporting Program, or MRIP, has to be considered and that data changes each year. It's a flawed and inexact science. Trust me. But I have been told to "trust the science", and at times warned that challenging that could be detrimental to "the cause". Having a voluntary and confusing survey doesn't sound like solid data collection. Example, "Did you fish today", Did you fish last month". Yada yada.
What we are looking forward to is panic. Remember everything we have been doing has been in anticipation of rebuilding striped bass by 2029. Well folks, we're getting close. And the truth is there's two things going on here, shareholders (commercial and recreational) vying for the same fish, managers not wanting to look stupid, and all the people involved in it with a politically and financial gain.
I understand why people flake out on the ASMFC. They gave up on writing letters and listening to the meetings. No one listens to the public, the representatives only look out for their own, and meanwhile the striped bass suffer, which in the end will affect all of the shareholders, the striped bass included.